Atlanta area braces for ice storm; 4 die in Texas ATLANTA (AP) — The city dodged the first punch of a dangerous winter storm Tuesday, but forecasters warned of a potentially “catastrophic” second blow in a thick layer of ice that threatened to bring hundreds of thousands of power outages and leave people in their cold, dark homes for days. The streets and highways in metro Atlanta were largely deserted as people in the South’s business hub heeded advice from officials to hunker down at home, ...

Curls and dimples: Shirley Temple dies at 85 Any kid who ever tap-danced at a talent show or put on a curly wig and auditioned for “Annie” can only dream of being as beloved — or as important — as Shirley Temple. Temple, who died Monday night at 85, sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of downcast Depression-era moviegoers and remains the ultimate child star decades later. Other pre-teens, from Macaulay Culkin to Miley Cyrus, have been as famous in their time. But non...

Graco recalling nearly 3.8M child car seats DETROIT (AP) — Graco is recalling nearly 3.8 million car safety seats because children can get trapped by buckles that may not unlatch. But the company has drawn the ire of federal safety regulators who say the recall should include another 1.8 million rear-facing car seats designed for infants. The recall covers 11 models made from 2009 through 2013 by Graco Children’s Products Inc. of Atlanta. It’s the fourth-largest child seat recall in U.S...

10 Things to Know for Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2014Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today: 1. SHIRLEY TEMPLE, ICONIC CHILD STAR, DIES The dimpled, curly-haired child star who sang, danced, sobbed and grinned her way into the hearts of Depression-era moviegoers, is dead at 85. 2. WHAT INVESTORS WILL BE LISTENING FOR WHEN YELLEN SPEAKS They'll seek clues to whether new Federal Reserve chief will embrace all the policies of her prede...

Experts increasingly contemplate end of smoking ATLANTA (AP) — Health officials have begun to predict the end of cigarette smoking in America. They have long wished for a cigarette-free America, but shied away from calling for smoking rates to fall to zero or near zero by any particular year. The power of tobacco companies and popularity of their products made such a goal seem like a pipe dream. But a confluence of changes has recently prompted public health leaders to start throwing around...

Florida detective: 9 bullet holes in loud music SUV JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — Nine bullet holes were found in an SUV after an argument over loud music at a Florida convenience store that left a teen dead, an investigator testified Saturday at the trial of the man charged with opening fire. Also Saturday, the defendant’s fiancee, who was with him the night of the shooting, broke down several times while testifying. A bullet fired into the rear door killed Jordan Davis, 17, of Marietta, Ga., in N...

Court papers: Woman faked pregnancy, stole baby TOWN OF BELOIT, Wis. (AP) — An hour after a woman reported her newborn son missing from a Wisconsin home, police were questioning her step-sister — found with a prosthetic pregnancy belly, baby clothes and a stroller, but no baby, according to court documents. It was more than 24 hours after Kayden Powell went missing before authorities discovered the infant, less than a week old, in a plastic storage crate outside an Iowa gas station, miracul...

Drink makers giving people ways to ditch the can NEW YORK (AP) — It keeps getting easier to ditch the soda can. When Coca-Cola said this week that it would let people make its drinks at home using a beverage machine, it became the latest company to take advantage of a growing trend: People turning to flavored drops or at-home carbonation machines that do away with the need to haul home bulky cans and bottles from the supermarket. While such alternatives still represent a tiny fraction of the...

GI Joe, the world’s first action figure, turns 50 SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. (AP) — G.I. Joe is turning 50. The birthday of what’s called the world’s first action figure is being celebrated this month by collectors and the toy maker that introduced it just before the nation plunged into the quagmire that would become the Vietnam War — a storm it seems to have weathered pretty well. Since Hasbro brought it to the world’s attention at the annual toy fair in New York City in early 1964, G.I. Joe has...

Tenn girl, 5, dies from being forced to drink soda SURGIONSVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee couple faces a murder charge, accused of forcing the man’s 5-year-old daughter to drink more than 2 liters of grape soda and water, causing her brain to swell and rupture, authorities said. According to the Hawkins County Sheriff’s Office and the autopsy report, Alexa Linboom was brought in to the emergency room on Jan. 1, 2012, by her father, Randall Vaughn, and his wife, Mary Vaughn. The girl was...

Utilities scramble to restore power in Pa., Md. HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people spent a second day without electricity Thursday as utility crews from as far away as Canada and Arkansas scrambled to restore power lost when ice took down trees and limbs in the mid-Atlantic. Forecasters said a bone-chilling cold would remain in place for days. Nearly a half-million customers lacked power in Pennsylvania and Maryland. In Pennsylvania, where most of the outages were locate...

US government to spend $30M on forest restoration HELENA, Mont. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Thursday it will spend $30 million this year on forest restoration projects in 12 states to reduce the threat of wildfires, protect water quality and improve wildlife habitat for at-risk species. Those first 13 projects will be the start of a multi-year initiative to improve the health of forests and watersheds on public and private lands, Agriculture Undersecretary Robert Bonnie sai...

Lights out for 1M as winter storm slams Northeast More than a million homes and businesses were left in darkness and cold Wednesday after snow, sleet and freezing rain moved into the Northeast. The region’s second winter storm of the week canceled classes, closed government and business offices and sent cars and trucks sliding on slippery roads and highways. Around a foot of snow fell in some states. Moving in overnight from the Midwest, where it wreaked similar havoc, the storm tested the re...

Officials: NY suspect had Hoffman’s cell number NEW YORK (AP) — At least one of four people arrested during an investigation of actor Philip Seymour Hoffman’s suspected fatal heroin overdose had the actor’s cellphone number, two law enforcement officials said Wednesday. Investigators zeroed in on the four after a tipster, responding to publicity about Hoffman’s death, told police he had seen Hoffman at the lower Manhattan apartment building where they were arrested on Tuesday and he believe...

Woman executed in Texas for 1998 torture killing HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A woman convicted of torturing and killing a mentally impaired man she lured to Texas with the promise of marriage was put to death Wednesday evening in a rare execution of a female prisoner. The lethal injection of Suzanne Basso, 59, made the New York native only the 14th woman executed in the U.S. since the Supreme Court in 1976 allowed capital punishment to resume. Almost 1,400 men have been put to death during that...

Central Indiana man back home 18 years after abduction INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Nathan Slinkard was 5 years old when his mother failed to return him to his father as an Indiana court had ordered. On Tuesday, the 23-year-old man was back home with his father, about a week after he walked into the United States Consulate in Guadalajara, Mexico, identified himself and asked to come home to the U.S. His return 18 years after he went missing buoyed investigators who hope Nathan’s return leads to a bigger re...

States look to rein in government surveillance PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Angry over revelations of National Security Agency surveillance and frustrated with what they consider outdated digital privacy laws, state lawmakers around the nation are proposing bills to curtail the powers of law enforcement to monitor and track citizens. Their efforts in at least 14 states are a direct message to the federal government: If you don’t take action to strengthen privacy, we will. “We need to stand up and...

Facebook barrels ahead on 10th anniversary NEW YORK (AP) — It has been 10 years since a Harvard sophomore named Mark Zuckerberg created a website called Thefacebook.com to let his classmates find their friends online. They did. And in the decade since, so have more than a billion people, not just American college students but also farmers in India, activists in Egypt and pop stars in South Korea. Facebook has transformed how much of the world communicates. Zuckerberg’s insistence that ...

NY couple charged after toddler calls 911 15 times LOWVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — Authorities have charged a northern New York woman and her boyfriend because the woman’s 2-year-old daughter used their cellphones to dial 911 a total of 15 times last month. Village of Lowville Police Officer Matthew Martin says the 23-year-old mother and her 33-year-old boyfriend told him they tried to keep their phones away from the persistent toddler, but the girl kept getting them and dialing 911. Martin spoke to the...

Long winter brings salt shortage, steeper prices CHICAGO (AP) — As piles of snow grow taller during this seemingly endless winter, the mounds of salt for spreading on the nation’s icy, slushy roads are shrinking, forcing communities to ration supplies or try exotic new ice-melting substances. Cities have already gone through most of their salt well ahead of the time they traditionally really need it — when the coldest part of winter gives way to temperatures just warm enough to turn snow int...